July 15 1956 -
Although not in the same league as Plan 9 from Outer Space, It Conquered the World was released upon an unsuspecting public on this date. (American International released the film on a double bill with The She-Creature.)
Though the film was later featured and mocked on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, the writers praised the performance of Beverly Garland. She was invited to (and attended) the first convention dedicated to the show, and show writer Paul Chaplin included a short essay extolling her acting ability in this film: on the scene where she hurls insults at the monster, Paul wrote, "In that moment she IS a woman enraged at a pickle."
July 15, 1972 -
Elton John's fifth studio album, Honky Chateau, reached No. #1 on the US Billboard Charts, on this date, making it the first of John's seven consecutive US No. #1 album.
The album was recorded at Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, in January 1972. At the time, the studio was known as "Strawberry Studios," but after Elton dubbed it the "Honky Chateau" and named his album after it, that became its new moniker. The Château d'Hérouville lies northwest of Paris and is where Frédéric Chopin was believed to have conducted his affair with the novelist George Sand. In 1962 the composer Michel Magne bought it and converted it into a studio, which became a popular location doing the 1970s and 80s.
July 15, 1983 -
Woody Allen's technically inventive and very funny mocumentary, Zelig starring Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, premiered on this date.
In 2007, Italian psychologists discovered a rare form of brain damage which affects its victims much like Zelig's condition (without, of course, the accompanying physical transformations). Researcher Giovannina Conchiglia and associates have proposed the name "Zelig-like Syndrome" for the disorder, because of the parallels to the film.
July 15, 1988 -
The film that made Bruce Willis a star, Die Hard, co-starring Alan Rickman, and Bonnie Bedelia opened in limited release in the US on this date.
Only a couple of the actors who played the German terrorists were actually German and only a couple more could speak broken German. The actors were cast for their menacing appearances rather than their nationality. Nine of the 12 were over six feet tall.
July 15, 1998 -
The Farrelly Brothers career saving romantic comedy, There's Something About Mary premiered on this date.
After the financial losses suffered from Kingpin, the Farrelly brothers thought their next film would probably be their last. So they decided to go all out and deliver the most hysterically black comedy they could dream up. When this film became a box-office smash hit, the Farrelly's careers were safe to continue.
July 15, 2005 -
The Tim Burton remake of Roald Dahl's classic children's story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, Helena Bonham Carter, James Fox, Deep Roy, and Christopher Lee, went into general release in the US on this date.
Johnny Depp was so impressed with Freddie Highmore's performance in Finding Neverland that he recommended Tim Burton observe him for the role of Charlie Bucket.
July 15, 2009 -
45 years after he played at the Ed Sullivan Theater with The Beatles, Paul McCartney returned to the venue to appear on The Late Show With David Letterman.
Earlier in the day, McCartney plays a few songs from the theater's marquee, surprising the onlookers in Manhattan.
Another unimportant moment in history
Today in History:
July 15, 1606 -
Rembrandt van Rijn was born in Leiden, Holland, on this date.
He is best known for his mastery of chiaroscuro and impasto, but his scampi was nothing to sneeze at.
July 15, 1799 -
The Rosetta Stone is an Ancient Egyptian artifact which was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. The stone is a Ptolemaic era stele with carved text. The text is made up of three translations of a single passage, written in two Egyptian language scripts (hieroglyphic and Demotic), and in classical Greek.
It was created in 196 BC, discovered by the Napoleonic expeditionary forces in 1799 at Rashid (a harbor on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt which the French referred to Rosetta) and contributed greatly to the decipherment of the principles of hieroglyphic writing in 1822 by the British polymath Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-François Champollion.
Feel free to impress your friends with this bit of knowledge.
July 15, 1857 -
During an uprising in June of 1857, the group of British women and children being held by rebels in Cawnpore, India were cut to pieces with knives and hatchets. Then their remains are tossed into a well.
When British forces finally retook Cawnpore on this date, the captured rebels are taken back to the house where the slaughter took place. Then they are forced to lick the floors clean, after which they are hanged.
I hate to think what the penalty was for early withdrawal from your IRA.
July 15 1864 -
A train containing hundreds of Confederate prisoners passing through Shohola, PA crashed head on with a coal train on this date.
The trains were off schedule because of an escape attempt. 74 people, mostly prisoners, died.
July 15, 1869 -
During war with Prussia, French ruler Napoleon III commissions Hippolye Mege Mouries to find a butter substitute.
He called it Margarine (but you can call it Oleo) because the French word for pearl was margarite and he apparently had difficulty distinguishing butter from pearls -
a handicap that goes a long way toward explaining his many divorces.
But even with the tactically superior spread, the war was still lost.
July 15, 1904 -
A small town Russian alcoholic doctor quietly succumbed to consumption, while in another room, his relatives sat around the house and wistfully bemoaned the lost opportunities of their lives. An old family retainer served tea to the unknowing mourners. Off in the distance, the guitar string of a peasant guitar broke, all on this date.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, died on this date but not as described above. As he lay dying of tuberculosis, in a German Spa, Chekhov called out for his doctor. The doctor examined him and prescribed him a glass of champagne. Chekhov finished his glass, commented on the taste, lay back down and died.
All in all, not a bad way to go.
July 15, 1946 -
I didn't think I was a famous singer. I didn't think I was a star or that I could make the waters part - just that singing was what I was going to do.
Linda Maria Ronstadt, singer and actress was born in Tucson, Arizona on this date. (Send her your good thoughts)
July 15, 1979 -
President Jimmy Carter addressed the energy crisis and subsequent recession by discussing what he felt was the greatest threat to the United States in a speech later called the 'malaise' speech, on this date.
He believed that a lack of "moral and spiritual confidence" prevented the American people from recovering from the economic hardships and said, "this crisis in the growing doubt about the meaning of our own lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation" were the basis for the negative economic climate.
July 15, 2007 -
As of last check, the team still holds the record for the most games lost by any professional American sports team in history with 11,155.
And so it goes
Indeed. His scampi was nothing to sneeze at.
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